Books by Karen Lloyd

"e;Entrancing...sparkles with lyrical imagery-Miriam Darlington, BBC Wildlife "e;Full of earthy realism, authentic observationand quiet lyricism"e; - Mark Cocker. Karen Lloyd takes us on a deeply personal journey around the 60 miles of coastline that make up 'nature's amphitheatre'. Embarking on a series of walks that take in beguiling landscapes and ever-changing seascapes, Karen tells the stories of the places, people, wildlife and history of Morecambe Bay. So we meet the Queen's Guide to the Sands, discover forgotten caves and islands that don't exist, and delight in the simple beauty of an oystercatcher winging its way across the ebbing tide. As we walk with Karen, she explores her own memories of the bay, making an unwitting pilgrimage through her own past and present, as well as that of the bay. The result is a singular and moving account of one of Britain's most alluring coastal areas.

In this new collection of literary essays, Karen Lloyd explores abundance and loss in the natural world relating compelling stories of restoration, renewal and rewilding and revealing how the people working on the front line of conservation are challenging the inevitability of biodiversity loss.How should we restore nature and species, and why does it matter? What is lost when we choose not to engage in restoration and rewilding? And which parts of ourselves might we also lose if we choose not to help restore and renew the natural world before it''s too late?In this era of urgent ecological challenge, Karen Lloyd''s timely book reveals the places that people are coming together to bring species and habitats back from the edge of extinction. In contrast, elsewhere, many other species are being allowed to disappear forever. To understand why this is, Karen examines how humans have chosen to entangle themselves in nature and considers the ways we perceive the natural world, contemplating why certain aspects of nature can hold our attention when we use others merely as temporary distractions.Touching on many current themes, Lloyd explores attitudes towards meaningful conservation as she weaves her delightful narrative through a diverse range of inspiring landscapes, including Romania''s Carpathian mountains, the Hungarian Steppe, the rivers of Perthshire, the dune forests of the Netherlands, and the rice paddies of Extremadura in southern Spain.

In The Blackbird Diaries, Karen Lloyd shares her deep-rooted affection for all our treasured garden wildlife. Over the four seasons, she intimately chronicles the drama and the joy, the perils and the pleasures of the natural world as it all unfolds in her garden and on her daily walks in Cumbria's South Lakeland.